growing experiences and culture shock

Elder Williams sent us an email last Sunday night. He is going through a little culture shock and is now learning the Tagalog language was not the one he learned in the MTC. Here is a portion of his email.

My companion Elder Casilac is a native from Davao, I understand his english about as well as I understand his Tagalog. I can't believe the traffic here, literally EVERYONE drives like Need For Speed. They have these things called "Jeepneys" which are basically small buses with the back door permanently gone. Easily the most unsafe thing ever. I saw a girl about 6 or 7 leaning out the back with one foot on the bumper, and another kid on the same Jeepney resting on the front tire well.

One of the best things about my area is that its every ten year old kids dream. There's tree houses, makeshift shelters, stick pole homes on the banks of the canal, and trees everywhere

Yesterday my neighbors killed, cleaned, and cooked a pig in the front yard. A bit traumatizing but hilarious at the same time. Everyone here calls me "Elder William" and they always forget the 'S' and they gave me my own scripture! read D&C 66:3 sometime. Its already Christmas here yesterday I went to FHE at a families home and we sang Oh Come All Ye Faithful and Joy to the World. All the shops and stuff are playing Christmas music and decorations are for sale.

The movie The Other Side of Heaven make primitive living so appealing, but I miss some very basic things about home.

At masdan, ako rin ay isang lalaking kilala ang pangalan sa lahat ng yaong nakakikilala sa akin; oo, at masdan, ako ay maraming kaanak at mga kaibigan, at ako rin ay nagkamit ng maraming kayamanan sa pamamagitan ng kamay ng aking kasipagan
Patnubayan ka nawa ng Diyos hanggang sa muling magkita

The only pictures he sent last week were of the bathroom, must have made an impact.  

The bathroom in his apartment 

San Clemente

Sept 11, 2011
So I'm in an internet cafe, and I absolutely love the Philippines. Plus it's an american/chinese/filipino/every other eastern islands language keyboard, and I can't hardly type on it. So far the philippines aren't so bad, my first area is in a small town called San Clemente, but all our investigators live in grass huts by rice fields, its like an area that people would film to make missions appealing. But they would never film the geese who live in my backyard or the semi trucks rolling through at 3am or the ants that eat my rice faster than I do. But I still love it here, the kids are so awesome! a drunk guy called me Joe the other day, and I left my umbrella in my apartment on the first day we had a monsoon-type rainstorm. So now one of my favorite ties is ruined. But no worries.
Mahal na mahal ko kayo
Elder Williams

p.s. When I figure out how to mail things I will send a long letter of the first three days of my time here. Just know that I'm still alive and I always know what time it is there, I still haven't changed my watch yet. I am 14 hours ahead of you.
Tell McKenzie that my first transfer was Sept 7 to San Clemente and my first companion is Elder Casilac so she can update the calendar.

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Perfect gift to the families...

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And the adventure begins

On September 5, 2011 Elder Williams left the MTC at 4:30 PM to start a new adventure in the Philippines.  His flight schedule was as follows:
Salt Lake departure at 8:15 PM arriving in Los Angeles at 9:22 PM.
Leaving LA at 1:32 AM on the 6th arriving in Hong Kong at 7:15 AM on the 7th.
Leaving HK at 9:10 AM arriving in Manila at 11:15 AM.
From Manila they take a bus to Angeles.
It sounds like a long journey.

Now to put this in Mountain Standard Time.
Left the MTC at 4:30 (Monday) for the SLC airport.
Flight to LA was from 8:15 to 10:20 PM.
Flew out of LA at 2:40 AM (Tuesday)
Arrived in Hong Kong at 2:40 PM (Tuesday).
Flew out of Hong Kong at 7:10 PM
Arrived in Manila at 9:10 PM. 

He called us from Salt Lake and we were able to speak to him for about 10 minutes.  He sounded very nervous but would never tell us he was feeling that way.  We did get a little information out of him while we were talking. The group he flew with started off with 30 missionaries they traveled together to Hong Kong where 4 split off to go to Thailand.  The rest went to Manila, Philippines and then part ways when the got to Manila. Out of the group he has 5 missionaries that are serving in Angeles with him.

He said he had not been able to run for the last two weeks because he was sick but he was getting better. He also said he gained 10 lbs, making him a whole 134 lbs.  We hope he can keep it on.

In Los Angeles we got to speak to him for and hour and a half and heard many funny stories about the MTC and his companions.  During his time at the MTC Kolton had 2 companions.For any of you that know Kolton very well he has such a sense of humor and is always telling jokes.  One of the companions was a very serious by-the-rule kind of guy. He did not appreciate Kolton's sense of humor. For the first 3 weeks this companion would wake up at 6:00 and would not get out of bed until 6:30 because the missionary guidelines said they needed to be out of bed at 6:30. Somebody finally told him he could get out earlier he just could not sleep in. When they arrived at the airport the third companion's parents showed up to say "goodbye" and the "by-the-rule" companion got very angry and told him he could not talk to his parents.  I think it has been a very interesting 8 weeks with the three of them.

Sunday his district challenged him to eat 10 bowls of fruit loops for breakfast.  He said it made him so sick he spent a very long time in the bathroom thinking he was going to throw up.  It was clearly a bad idea because it made him sleep through the departure devotional for his disctrict.

During his phone call he told me about the "pass along" tradition at the MTC. The older districts have "pass along" items that each elder gives to an Elder in a younger district.  Kolton received a broken replica Sword-of-Laban. The Elder told him that if he could fix the plastic sword then he would be blessed with many baptisms.  We sent a tube of JB Weld and a file and he was able to put it back together. Kolton met a young man named Elder Peter who became his favorite Elder in the new district.. Elder Peter is from Kirabati Island (by Micronesia) and had been in the MTC for about 3 weeks. Kolton gave him most of his "pass along" items including the sword.  One of the most coveted things he passed on was a fan, the AC is not working in the MTC and their are not many fans to go around.

Kolton expressed how much he loved people from the islands and how genuine they are.  His best friend in the MTC is from the Hawaii I don't know how to correctly spell his name.  I spoke with him (Hawaiian Elder) on the phone while they were in Los Angeles. Just from the short time I spoke to him I could tell they had formed an incredible bond.  After hearing these experiences I am sure he will love the Filipino people. 
He also told me how much he loved President Taylor, the branch president.  I could tell he has spoken to him many times and counseled with him to get through his time at the MTC. After a long conversation it was getting late and his flight was boarding soon so we said our goodbyes.
We received a text when he got to Hong Kong and again from Manila. We know he arrived safely. Now we just wait for the first email to arrive.
He loves letters!!
Elder Kolton Williams
Philippines Angeles Mission
POB 30150
Salt Lake City UT 84130-0150
 

Just a few pictures of Angles, where he will be serving.